In an interview with Bryan Clark, of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, I learned a couple of things. Including that while Navy tradition lays responsibility at the commander’s feet, the move doesn’t fix what’s wrong.

From 1998 to 2015, the US Navy shrank by 20 per cent, to 271 ships, while the number of vessels deployed overseas remained at about 100 ships, Bryan Clark, a senior fellow at the Centre for Strategic and Budgetary Assessment, wrote in a 2015 article for The National Interest. Clark concluded that each ship has to work 20 per cent more to meet demand.

From 1998 to 2015, the Navy shrank by 20 percent, to 271 ships, while the number of vessels deployed overseas remained at about 100 ships, Bryan Clark, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessment, wrote in a 2015 article for The National Interest. Clark concluded that each ship has to work 20 percent more to meet demand.

Crews stationed overseas like those in 7th Fleet face less certainty when it comes to deployments, training and other things that are more reliable for a U.S.-based crew, according to Bryan Clark, a retired submariner and now a fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments.

A procurement tax would provide Navy leadership with money to reallocate to programs that realize they need additional funding after the budget is finalized, Bryan Clark, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments told Inside the Navy Aug. 18. "The problem you could run into is if you're too rigorous in [the] 5 percent, 10 percent [cut] for every program line no matter what, then you could end up with a problem . . . which is a program that was close to bone that says, 'I'll cut 10 percent but that means my thing's delayed for two years or I'm about to break a contract," he said. To avoid a schedule or contract breach the Navy would need to work on a case-by-case basis, Clark continued. Clark said typically when a tax like this is imposed the assumption is this is a CNO slush fund. In reality, it usually ends up being the fund that is used to fix problems with programs, he added.

Between 1998 and 2015, the Navy shrank by 20 per cent to 271 ships, while the number of vessels deployed overseas remained at about 100 ships, Bryan Clark, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessment, wrote in a 2015 article for The National Interest. Clark concluded that each ship has to work 20 per cent more to meet demand.